SS Lesson Plan
Date: October 20, 2000
Teacher
Materials Needed: List of different places that will be visited while the class moves
west. The students will use these
locations to write in their diaries. A
bulletin board with the western trails marked on it. Also, each day a picture of a covered wagon will be moved from
location to location on the map.
Student
Materials Needed:
Any
material on the Oregon Trail.
Goals for this lesson:
·
To
get the students to write creatively and gain empathy with early pioneers.
·
To
expand the students knowledge about the settlement of the American west.
·
To
make the students appreciate the hardships their ancestors endured as they
traveled to settle the west.
Related NC Standard Course
of Study Goals/Objectives:
English
Language Arts Grade 5
Goal
1 -The learner will apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write.
Objective
1.2- Select key vocabulary critical to the text and apply appropriate meanings
as necessary for comprehension.
Social
Studies Grade 5
Goal
6- Geography- The learner will evaluate the significance of the movement of
people, goods, and ideas from place to place.
Objective
6.1 Analyze the movement of people, goods, and ideas within and among the
countries of the United States, Canada, and Latin America and between the
Western Hemisphere.
Objective
6.3 Judge how changes in the movement of people, goods, and ideas have affected
ways of living in the Western Hemisphere.
The students have already begun their literature circles unit on the Westward Movement. Now, the students will create a new identity for themselves. They will have an old fashioned name, a new age if they choose, an occupation that will be chosen out of a hat, a spouse and a family. This family will be an important part of their travels. They will each have a minimum of 2 children and possibly some extended family traveling with them. Explain that most adults were married at this time of history so everyone will have a spouse. To begin the diary activity, have the students make an old fashioned cover for their diaries. “Aging” paper is possible by wadding it up and dipping it in tea or coffee. Once it is dry, it can be bound.
Explore
The students will have a longer first diary entry than the rest. In their first entry they must explain about all of the above conditions. Their family, occupation, etc. Next write on the board the diary entry for the day. It is about the decision to move. The husband has decided to move to Oregon (with or without the wife’s advice). There are no excuses good enough to postpone the trip. They will leave as soon as possible. Have the students spend about 15-20 minutes writing in their diaries. The students can use this time to look up information in their Social Studies textbooks, or any other resources in the class. The facts that they find out each day may be included in their entries or in a list. As the diary entries continue, the students will be moving from destination to destination. For example, on the first day they meet in Independence, Missouri to form the wagon train. They will travel from here and go across rivers, encounter troubles and so on. This will help the students develop an understanding of how it felt to be traveling west in a wagon train. Diaries are due at the end of the unit.
Summarize
Ask the students if there are any questions about the diaries they will be keeping? Make sure the students understand that they must think in the mindset of a pioneer. They do not have all of the modern accommodations that we have now. Tell the students for homework to make a visual on their new identities. These will be put up around the Westward Movement bulletin board. This board will be very important to them. They can track the wagon train daily and see pictures of the places they are traveling to. Also, tell the students to look forward to actually starting on the wagon train the next day.
Assessment/Evidence
of Learning
The teacher can assess their students understanding by listening to the questions that they ask. The best way will be to keep track of the diary entries. They do not have to be read daily but will be turned in at the end of the unit for a grade. A spot check could be used as a daily grade. Also, having the students read from their diaries and sharing the facts they have found will be a way to assess their understanding of the material.